Briefing Detail Page

Change Text Size:

Health Care Costs: The Role of Prices and Volume

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

This was the first event in a three-part series of discussions on costs, the factors driving them up and what (if anything) can be done about them. The series marks the Alliance for Health Reform’s 20th year of promoting informed and balanced discussion of health policy issues.

Much has been said about spending in governmental health care programs, notably Medicare and Medicaid. But employers, families and other payers have also experienced steady increases in health care spending. Many factors have been cited as health care cost drivers. This briefing and others in the series will take an in-depth look at a select few of the most often cited cost drivers, some of the innovations being tried to change the trajectory of health spending and policy options that might help overcome challenges and foster innovative solutions.

Webcast: The Emerging Biosimilars Market

Open Enrollment Preview: Checking the Vitals of the Marketplaces

The Affordable Care Act's health insurance marketplaces rely on robust competition to control costs and to provide consumer choice. But the decisions of several large insurers to scale back their 2017 marketplace participation, and the failure of many health insurance co-ops will leave marketplace shoppers in many states with fewer choices than they had in 2016. Furthermore, those insurers remaining in the exchanges have often found their marketplace customers to be less healthy than they projected, and they are raising premiums in response. Our briefing focuses on these trends, what they mean for the long-term viability of the marketplaces, and what public policy steps can be taken to bring more healthy people into the risk pool and to encourage insurer participation in the individual market.